In 2019 Fairtrade Fortnight will focus on cocoa.In Tatsfield we shall be celebrating 10 years as a Fairtrade Village at a chocolate themed party on 10th March at 3.00pm.Your invitation is hereIt's free but numbers may be limited so it's essential to reserve your place.Please note that allergies cannot be catered for.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2018

Thanks to inclement weather (snow!) the wine tasting event planned for Fairtrade Fortnight 2018 was postponed until April but the delay did not seem to spoil anyone's appetite for enjoyment ....

photo courtesy of Dave Bishop

Tatsfield raises its glasses to Fairtrade

Around 80 people, including SCC leader David Hodge and his wife Anne, attended the rescheduled Fairtrade Wine tasting evening, which was held in the School Hall on Saturday 7 April.Roger Pearce presented six wines, from South Africa, Argentina and Chile which all have Fairtrade accreditation. Roger gave a brief history of winegrowing in these countries before the tasting began, while Hilary Harber talked about the Schools and the Clean Water that the Fairtrade Premium provides.Of particular interest was The Running Duck Brand, which is made by Stellar Organics – a pioneer winery from Western South Africa. The wines are certified organic and have also been made according to “Fair for Life” guidelines. This social and fair trade certification ensures that human rights are guaranteed at any stage of production, that workers enjoy good and fair working conditions and that smallholder farmers receive a fair price. The brand is named after the Indian Runner ducks sent roaming into the vineyards to eat snails and other threats to the vines. This is natural pest control and allows the winery not to use pesticides and other harmful chemicals. It is also sulphite free.

However, the favourite wine of the evening proved to be the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Morador Malbec.Roger’s final thought for the evening: It doesn’t matter if the glass is half empty or half full – there is clearly room for more wine. Clearly Tatsfield agrees.

If you have not yet tried Fairtrade wines, there is a surprising choice available. The samples illustrated here come from Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons, Waitrose, Majestic and Amazon. The Co-op offers another 18 varieties.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2017

The theme for Fairtrade Fortnight 2107 was "Put Fairtrade in your break"Over 100 of us sat down in the Village Hall to put Fairtrade in our breakfast.

Photos courtesy of Dave Bishop

Fairtrade Fortnight may be over but farmers around the worldare still working hard and still need our support.Don't stop putting Fairtrade in your break.

The Mirror ran an article "What is Fairtrade fortnight?5 great reasons why you should start buying fairtrade products"

Fairtrade means fair prices for farmers in the developing world. When farmers sell on Fairtrade terms, they get a sustainable price and a premium to invest in their communities - a fair return for all their hard work.

Farmers who get a fair price can invest in their communities and businesses and are empowered to build a better future. They get a better deal and you can reduce poverty through their everyday shopping.

Millions of farmers and workers who produce our first meal of the day miss out on breakfast themselves . 80 per cent of the world’s coffee is produced by 25 million smallholders who live on less than $2 a day (£1.40). If farmers are guaranteed to receive at least the Fairtrade Minimum Price for their coffee, they have a safety net when times are tough.

Buying Fairtrade doesn’t have to cost more – there’s such a wide range of Fairtrade products from gold to breakfast bananas that there's something for everyone. Most major retailers stock Fairtrade produce, for example the Co-op, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.

You should look out for the Fairtrade logo. Products with a FAIRTRADE Mark have met internationally agreed Fairtrade Standards designed to address the imbalance of power of conventional trade.

NOW MORE THAN EVERit's time put Fairtrade in your break

Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 In February 2016 we sat down together to enjoy a Fairtrade breakfast - in the Village Hall, in the Bakery and in our own homes. THE BIG FAIRTRADE BREAKFAST 2016

‘Before you finish eating your breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world’Martin Luther King Jr (from a Christmas sermon on peace 1967)So let’s sit down for a Fairtrade breakfast every morning and stand up for farmers!Maybe this morning you enjoyed:Coffee from KenyaBananas from ColumbiaCocoa from Cote d’IvoireTea from IndiaSugar from MalawiJuice from Brazilian orangesMuesli from round the worldnot forgetting British milkLet's hope they were all Fairtrade!

Fairtrade Fortnight 2015

The end of Fairtrade Fortnight was marked in Tatsfield by a celebration in the Village Hall that was attended by over ninety people. This event was organised by Tatsfield Fairtrade Village group and sponsored by Tatsfield Parish Council and we had an interesting and informative evening. The event started with a short film ‘Fairtrade Matters’ about Fairtrade tea growers in Malawi.

We saw how the co-operative functions and the benefits that are enjoyed by the community as a result of Fairtrade, giving us a glimpse into their lives. This co-operative has used the Fairtrade Premium to purchase motorbikes to reach more farmers and train them in better farming practices. They have brought a life saving ambulance, invested in building a bridge making transporting the tea crop more efficient and trading easier and are planning to build a school which will be tenminutes walk from the village rather that the current hour.

This evening was also an occasion to highlight the disastrous flooding that occurred earlier this year, and since the film was made, which has affected hundreds of thousands of people including the death of sixpeople from this co-operative.

A special raffle was organised and thanks to people’s generosity raised a wonderful £350 to go to the Malawi relief fund.

The Chair of Tandridge Council, Elizabeth Parker, expressed her pleasure at the number of people who were present and her thanks for being invited.

We then had the opportunity to address questions to a panel, composed of Barbara Crowther, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Fairtrade Foundation; Paul Pirie, who has worked in senior charity management for over 20 years and is the current chair of the Lingfield and Dormansland Fairtrade Village Group and Reverend George Young, who set up Opportunities Through Trade, a local non profit initiative to supply Fairtrade stock to local groups and churches.

We learned how co-operatives are formed and how new members join, where there is the opportunity for them to work.

The tea was delicious and copious and served efficiently. We had a range of lovely sandwiches, followed by a delicious selection of cakes, including chocolate brownies and for an extra treat some of Ann Hayes’s famous handmade truffles. There were also bars of Divine Fairtrade chocolate on each table to sample. Apart from the tea there was a chocolate fountain, (a definite favourite of mine!) with marshmallows and fruit to coat in melted chocolate.

There was a happy buzz of conversation as everyone ate their tea or browsed and shopped from Moyna Bridge’swide selection of Fairtrade goods, food, clothing and presents. It is lovely to see how many people in Tatsfield support Fairtrade.Tina Rhoda This free event was sponsored by Tatsfield Parish Council.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2014

Last year’s campaign focused on making bananas
fair! To help understand the effect that the unfair banana has on the growers Alberto Alfonso ‘Foncho’
Cantillo, a 43 year old banana farmer from
Columbia visited
the UK in Fairtrade
Fortnight. He is a man with a plan! He works hard, putting in long hours to make his business work. His livelihood depends on bananas.
He knows that without them he would struggle
to find another job to provide for his family. He is fuming that the majority
of the bananas munched in the UK are sold so cheaply that his fellow growers often do not earn enough from what they sell here in the UK.

What would the ultimate Fair Banana could look like? A fair banana would be produced in a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable way and consumers would have a guarantee that this applies across the supply chain. So there would be independent verification that bananas are farmers are produced by farmers and workers who for example:

Are able to sell at a fair price or earn a wage which covers the cost of a decent standard of living and/or sustainable costs of production

Have access to fairly negotiated contracts, so as to be able to predict future income

Enjoy labour and union rights and are free from discrimination

Have adequate health and safety guidance and equipment

Are maintaining the environment for future generations

What happened in Tatsfield during fairtrade fortnight 2014?Working with Tatsfield School
There was a Fairtrade
day at Tatsfield School when, through a range
of
activities organised throughout
the
school children,
we worked to raise the children’s awareness of Fairtrade and its role in ensuring
a fair price and sustainability for farmers and workers in the developing world. Children and parents had an opportunity to see and buy from a wide selection of Fairtrade
goods too. This was supported by members
of the Tatsfield
Fairtrade Village
Group and pupils
from Oxted School.Cecily Bateman, one of these pupils has writtena report of the event Click to read it.

Fairtrade Tea Tent outside the shopsThe ever popular Tea Tent popped up on the green outside the shops. People, including those wonderful volunteers who had been working hard on ‘In Bloom’ jobs, enjoyed free cups of tea and coffee and delicious Fairtrade bakes courtesy of Ann Hayes. They met Mr Banana, who invited them to sign the Fairtrade petition asking the Rt. Hon Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, to urgently investigate the grave impact of unsustainable supermarket pricing of bananas. The supermarket price has halved over the last ten years whereas production costs have doubled.

BeaversWe also visited Tatsfield Beavers, who made Fairtrade fruit salad and, having tasted the results, two helpings in some cases, they voted Fairtrade pineapple their favourite Fairtrade fruit. Look out for the Fairtrade version when you go shopping!

St Mary's‘Choices’ was the theme for the March Open the Book service. We all make them and even small choices such as choosing to buy Fairtrade bananas can make a big difference to the growers and producers in the developing world. Mr Banana’s antics caused a great deal of amusement!

Fairtrade Fortnight in 2013
As usual we focussed on Fairtrade goods in our two
village shops. There are a growing number of Fairtrade items in Linda’s and in
Di and Tony’s Greengocery. Fairtade fruit was on sale as well as the Fairtrade
Zaytoun olive oil from Palestine which quickly sold out after people had hear
the talk on the evening (more in stock now!)
During this fortnight an assembly at Tatsfield school
focused on Fairtrade. The children collected a huge number of Fairtrade
wrappers to be used in building Tatsfield Fairtrade Tower!
The snow intervened at a crucial moment and the project had to be deferred but the children are still eager and ready to go.

PALESTINIAN FAIRTRADE OLIVE OIL FLOWING AT
VILLAGE HALL
Around 80 people gathered on Sunday 3rd March to hear about and try Zaytoun
extra virgin olive oil, which is the first olive oil to achieve Fairtrade status.
The evening was enthusiastically kicked off by Jennie South and Hilary Harber of
the
Tatsfield Fairtrade Village
Group. Sakina Bradbury, Chairman of Tandridge District Council, congratulated the group
and explained why she is keen to spread
the
Fairtrade message. There followed an illustrated talk by Taysir Arbasi, a farmer
who lives in Salfeet District, and Atif Choudhury, Zaytoun’s UK Director. Taysir explained the obstacles that have had to be overcome and which continue, includ-
ing
the competition
for land, the dispersal of the population and the deliberate
destruction of olive trees in some places. There is huge demand for scarce water
resources, which are also needed by the expanding Jewish settlements; and the bottles for the oil have to be manufactured elsewhere. To enter the European
market, Zaytoun oil had to meet EU standards
and compete with established Greek, Spanish and Italian brands. Now 25 villages and thousands
of people are involved and new trees are being planted. A Soil Association Award has been
achieved for its organic status.

An attentive audience

Atif Choudhury Director of Zaytoun

Taysir Arbasi Zaytoun's visting member of staff

Sakina Bradbury Chairman of Tandridge District Council

Hilary’s husband Andrew made delicious bread and Bob David made a dip which was admirably accompanied by the olives, oil and herbs. Dimitri Araj, a member of Tatsfield Badminton Club, comes from Palestine and has family living there, generously donated a number of attractive items made in Palestine for a raffle.

Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginal- ised by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade. Fundamentally, it ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal.

And those living on the occupied west bank of the Jordan River around Jerusalem are particularly disadvantaged. Over many years, we have become familiar with images of conflict from here. Palestinians on the west bank live in village communities and rely on agriculture, particularly the production of olive oil.

Palestinian children under an olive tree

Zaytoun’s organic Fairtrade olive oil is pressed from the fruit of ancient trees which have been tended by hand through generations of family farmers. It is produced by farming co-operatives within the Palestinian Fairtrade Association, who harvest their trees by hand every October and send the olives to village presses within 24 hours. Many of the trees are over 1000 years old; they can grow for 3000 years.

Until recently, very little of this oil, which has a light and delicate flavour, has reached consumers outside Palestine. Due to restrictions on trade, it still cannot be exported to Gaza or Jordan. Now oil and other Fairtrade products including dates, almonds, soap, couscous and traditional Palestine ‘Za’atar’ herbs are available in the UK.
This quote from Mahmoud Issa, an olive farmer from the Palestine Fair Trade
Producers Company, says all that needs to be said: "The
zaytoun, the olive, means
everything to us. My father and my grandfather farmed on this land, and now my
children work alongside me harvesting. Our olive oil is of the highest quality
because of the fertility of the land and we use traditional farming methods.
Fairtrade will bring stability to our farmers with the Fairtrade premium allowing for investment. In the past, we were often forced to sell our products at a loss due to
the
economic situation, but we are hoping that Fairtrade will help re-establish small
farmers’ faith
in the
sustainability of the agricultural
sector in Palestine."